


Clouds

by halfmoonjisung



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, POV Alternating, Roommates, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26745688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfmoonjisung/pseuds/halfmoonjisung
Summary: From growing up in two rival superhero families, to competing against each other since birth, to getting assigned to the same first undercover mission — Jeno and Donghyuck have always been together.It’s always been endless bickering, countless arguments, intentional sabotages, and constant annoyance between them.Though, somewhere along the story, love finds its way.alternatively titled:The Superheroic Adventures of Jeno and Donghyuck
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my entry for the [#30daynohyuck challenge](https://twitter.com/nohyuckfest/status/1221991373743644672)!~
> 
> [☁️] instead of making thirty alternate universes, i decided to make use of this challenge to write snippets of jeno and donghyuck's story in one alternate universe. (originally, this is just going to be one big college au but if i'm gonna write thirty interconnected drabbles, i'll need a twist to keep me going~ hence, superheroes!)
> 
> [☁️] basically, this will be a collection of drabbles with superheroes nohyuck! as stated in the tag, it's in non-linear narrative so the drabble will depend on the prompt that the chapter falls onto. you don't have to read this in order! even chapters can be stand-alones, if we try hard haha.
> 
> [☁️] one prompt, one chapter! no guarantee for regular updates though; i'm only doing this because nohyuck is my comfort ship so i'll just write when i feel like it.
> 
> [☁️] more tags will be added as the fic goes on! i honestly don't have a detailed outline planned so we'll see where this goes.
> 
> have fun reading!~
> 
> (i also put song recs in the beginning of every chapter! might compile it into a playlist when it gets long enough.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the aftermath of slaying an intergalactic demon that threatened planet Earth
> 
> alt: **“Everything was easier when we hated each other”** (DAY 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [☁️] i somehow tried to give you a glimpse of the world building... think of it as a prologue? more will be revealed in the later chapters :)
> 
> [chapter title + song inspiration](https://open.spotify.com/track/2RTeLuMBVCM9M5iaQEhpY3?si=1dWWQAZ6Qv6e7KWYcWJAPg)

_“The world is made out of human love _  
_ It was something more wonderful  
than I thought it would be _  
_ I find the bonds that connect _  
_ people to one another”_

_— IZ*ONE, Human Love _

  
  


DONGHYUCK   
**SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA**  
**EARTH**  
_9:20 PM, 2020 AUGUST 7_  


The moon is hauntingly deceitful tonight. There is nothing unusual about it, but that’s exactly the deception it puts up front. It stands there, towering over the world and looking at everyone in it with the pretentious security it offers, as if everything but that did not just happen a few moments ago. 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes at the thought. 

He sneers at the moon before casting his gaze downwards, taking in the sight of green splattered all over the floor and his lower body. Donghyuck recoils in disgust, the smell of the icky liquid now starting to become present to his senses.

“A curse, isn’t it?”

Donghyuck looks up to where the voice came from, scolding himself in the process for doing such. His past self would’ve shamed him for responding to it. 

As expected, he makes eye contact with Lee Jeno, Donghyuck’s sworn rival since they were infants, crouching on the ground with an exhausted expression. Jeno, just like him, is entirely covered in the same, smelly green material that’s currently plaguing the streets. Though, Jeno has it worse, he thinks. Donghyuck is grateful, in the case of this situation, because he only has half of his body covered with the disgusting fluid, whereas the other guy looks like he’s the walking model of it with how much the filthy green taints his skin. Donghyuck is not unfamiliar when it comes to these sights, though he allows himself to think that Jeno looks a bit funnier in that moment than any of the previous ones.

Indeed, it shows in his reaction. Jeno scoffs at him when he chuckled, but that only made Donghyuck laugh more with how ridiculous the other guy looked, what with all the disgusting stuff all over his face.

“Of course you’d laugh,” Jeno murmurs, more to himself than to Donghyuck. “You’re not the one who got the most disgusting end of the fight.”

Donghyuck snickers at that. He slightly turns his head to catch the sight of Jaemin and Renjun yelling at each other, both covered in what seemed like thrice the amount of green liquid that’s on Jeno’s skin. 

“I told you not to come near it!”

“I was helping you!”

“You could’ve died!”

“And you wouldn’t have?!”

Donghyuck watches Jaemin and Renjun scolding each other until their argument settles into back and forth variations of _“I wasn’t going to let you die!”_ and Donghyuck decides he can go on with his life without watching the rest of it. By doing so, he turns back to Jeno, who’s also looking at their two bickering friends with an amused look.

“Well,” Donghyuck begins, catching Jeno’s attention. “You’re not _actually_ the one who got the disgusting end.”

Jeno raises his hand in surrender. “I never said I was.”

Donghyuck looks back up to the night sky, to the same haunting moon that served as witness to what happened a few moments ago. With that, Donghyuck starts to become more aware of himself—the sound of blood rushing back to its place, the lingering rapid heartbeat that’s gradually slowing down, the subtle pants he’s been releasing as he still tries to recover his breath, the aching pain in his joints, limbs, and body, and the overall exhaustion that is bound to take its toll on him soon.

“It’s a curse, isn’t it?” Jeno repeats again from across him.

Donghyuck simply shrugs. “Which one?”

He hears a deep sigh. “Everything.”

“Huh,” Donghyuck wonders, like an afterthought. “So you think that it’s a curse to save the world?”

“It’s a curse that we’re the ones who had to do it,” Jeno offers him a lazy smile, something that lies along the lines of acceptance and nonchalance.

Donghyuck doesn’t answer right away. Even though it was their choice to take on the creature on their own without waiting for backup, he’s aware that a part of them did that because of the obligation they were given, and deep down, Jeno is right.

Donghyuck didn’t really choose this life. He was born to it. The people from their planet are considered _gods_ by the other creatures, what with their gifted skills and abilities. His powers aren’t even something he got from an accident or earned from a challenge. He was just born with it — and because of that, he’s already subjected to a purpose that’s already pre-decided to their kind;

To be the mediators of the universe.

After all, according to planet Earth, it was them—superheroes, as they are called—who will have to save the day, anyway.

Donghyuck doesn’t wholeheartedly agree, but he understands where Jeno is coming from. It’s never been easy for the both of them, since they both came from the two most looked up to and influential families of their kind. Even though everybody in their planet is equally granted with the same heightened senses, enhanced physical and mental capabilities, and even basic power, it’s still different when it comes to your _specialties._ Donghyuck’s family has always been known as the best whisperers, earning them a spot at the top of the social and power hierarchy, which only adds up to Donghyuck’s sense of responsibility. The universe expects superheroes to do well, and the general community of superheroes expect Donghyuck’s family to do well, and then Donghyuck’s family expects him to do well.

Jeno’s in a not so much different position either. Where Donghyuck’s family is best for manipulating minds and emotions, Jeno’s family is best for all things that involve bending every material they touch to their liking. That places them exactly beside Donghyuck’s family on the hierarchy. 

Still, despite everything, Donghyuck can’t fully call it a curse. Not when he feels the best sort of accomplishment after slaying a full grown galactic monster, despite its disgusting bodily fluids covering up his entire lower body. 

Sure, this line of fate was predetermined, but Donghyuck’s heart is in it. The reward that makes everything worth it doesn’t really show whenever he beats Jeno, or whenever his family compliments him, or whenever his fellow superheroes look up to him. It comes in the form of innocent smiles from strangers that thank him, someone they don’t know but have placed their full trust on, wholeheartedly.

Instead of replying to Jeno’s statement, he offers his hand. The other guy only stares at it.

“What do you want me to do with it?” Jeno asks.

“I’m going to help you up, isn’t it obvious?”

Jeno looks confused for a while, but after what seems like exhaustion dawning over him, he shrugs and takes Donghyuck’s hand, hoisting himself up as Donghyuck staggers a little bit to support him. 

He lets go of his grip on Jeno to allow the other to stretch his limbs.

Jeno makes a disgusted face as he takes a look at his body. “I’m all covered in its blood!”

“I honestly don’t think the green thing is its blood.”

“Well, what else could it be?”

“Probably just its general body fluid.”

“So… blood.”

“What? No— I mean— Whatever.”

“Anyway,” Jeno terminates the topic, and then nudges his head towards another direction. “Those two had it worse.”

Donghyuck knows he’s talking about Jaemin and Renjun, but he still turns around. He lightly chuckles as he sees the two still bickering while being covered in the icky green material from the monster they just slayed. It was Jaemin who provoked the thing last, and it was Renjun who struck the final, fatal blow. Hence, they both got the disgusting end of the explosion.

“Definitely,” Donghyuck agrees. “They seem to be doing fine.”

“Yeah,” Jeno wistfully adds. “They saved the day.”

Donghyuck frowns for a bit because of Jeno’s tone before turning back to him with a small, genuine smile. “You were great.”

He says this because he means it, and because he knows of the expectations that were set for the two of them. They’ve always been competing their whole life, trying to outdo the other in completing the mission, in saving the day.

In this instance though, it was neither of them who did it.

But it doesn’t mean that they didn’t do well.

Jeno blinks at him, stunned. A few seconds before awkward silence can reign over, he replies, “ _We_ were great, Hyuck.”

That catches him off guard as well. But the shock quickly dissipates into relief, and the appreciative smile on Donghyuck’s face doesn’t leave. Jeno soon mirrors the smile as well. It’s not a big one, but it’s sincere — which Donghyuck believes means more.

All his life, Donghyuck is often told that he has to be the _best._ And since Jeno is often told that as well, Donghyuck has to do better than Jeno. It’s been like that ever since they were kids, always Donghyuck vs. Jeno, always Donghyuck or Jeno.

It’s always been _“or”,_ when in reality, it could be just as simple as _“and”._

Perhaps that’s why Jeno’s statement makes him feel warm, all of a sudden. They’ve been pitted against each other their whole lives, thinking that someone has to be better than the other, when just them doing well is enough. 

It doesn’t really matter who did better when in the first place, they both did their best.

It doesn’t have to be “Donghyuck _or_ Jeno”, always.

“Donghyuck _and_ Jeno” sounds good enough on its own already.

Still, Donghyuck still thinks that almost twenty years of rivalry could easily be sweeped under the rug, so even though he means well, he doesn’t know how to respond.

Jeno laughs at him. He’s probably been zoned out for quite a while. “You always act like this whenever I show a bit of decency towards you.”

“Shut up,” Donghyuck groans, but he finds himself laughing as well. “Everything was easier when we hated each other.”

“I’d disagree to be polite but unfortunately, I think the same,” Jeno responds truthfully. “I mean, you’re not so bad. But like, I don’t know how to act around you when you’re not so bad.”

“I honestly have no idea if I should be offended or flattered with that statement.”

“My intentions were neither.”

“Anyway,” Donghyuck says. He hears the sound of the familiar sirens from their home planet approaching nearer and nearer. “Looks like they’re coming. About time they cleaned up this mess we made.”

“Technically, it’s Renjun and Jaemin’s mess.”

“Mhm… but we’re still covered in this disgusting unknown fluid, so I would still like to complain.”

Jeno laughs again, and then Donghyuck laughs too. They don’t argue like they usually do, but they do exchange snarky remarks until they finally find the civil ground to settle on while waiting for the other heroes to come. Renjun and Jaemin eventually join them, probably growing tired from their back and forth scolding. 

Donghyuck smirks at them. “Lovers’ quarrel done already?”

They both flush beet red. “We’re not lovers!” Jaemin says as Renjun aggressively nods his head in agreement.

“How do you guys get this thing out of your bodies?” Renjun asks, looking disgusted at the dripping fluid from his arm. “Don’t you have a hero who can remove this thing?”

“We do,” Jeno tells him. “We have Hendery. He’s good at bending all sorts of liquid. I think he’s with them — he could easily get these away from us. They’re on their way.”

“Nice!” Jaemin exclaims. “After that, do you think we can all grab some pizza or something?”

Renjun rolls his eyes. “You seriously want to eat after killing an intergalactic monster?”

“Yes,” Jaemin replies, all too serious.

“I myself am starving a bit, too,” Donghyuck remarks. “I could use some pizza.”

“Honestly, me too,” Jeno adds.

Renjun looks at all of them incredulously. “You are all very weird.”

“You’re the one covered in the most amount of alien blood among us.”

“Look who’s talking, Jaemin.”

And just like that, they fall back into bickering. Donghyuck chuckles at the sight, and when he turns to look at Jeno, he finds the other guy looking at _him_ instead.

Donghyuck’s cheeks heat up, but he attempts not to make it obvious. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he challenges.

Jeno shrugs nonchalantly. “I’d rather _not_ witness another round of,” he gestures towards an arguing Jaemin and Renjun. “Whatever that is.”

Donghyuck snickers. “They do that a lot lately, huh?”

“You say that as if we weren’t exactly like that for most of our lives.”

“I never said we _didn’t_ do that too.”

Jeno doesn’t say anything else about that. Instead, he spares the other two a short glance before saying, “They’re both very stubborn.”

“I know,” Donghyuck agrees. “It’s a very ridiculous way of showing affection. Still, it’s the thought that counts, I guess.”

“I mean,” Jeno adds. “It’s easier to resort back to bickering at each other to mask the fact that you actually care for them. Joking around is way easier than admitting the truth, after all.”

Donghyuck is about to say something but he stops himself from doing so. A sudden thought appears in his mind as both Jeno’s wandering thoughts and Jaemin and Renjun’s chatter fade into the backdrop. 

_It’s easier to resort back to bickering at each other to mask the fact that you actually care for them._

The words linger in his mind.

_You say that as if we weren’t exactly like that for most of our lives._

He cannot recall a memory with Lee Jeno in it that does not involve an argument, a competition, or a disagreement of any sort. Donghyuck always takes some time of his life to better understand Jeno, always keeps one eye open for him, always on guard when it comes to him, always updating himself with what’s going on with the other’s life. He started doing that the first time his brother told him that he should beat Jeno at school, and ever since then, it’s one of the constants of his life. He always keeps a lookout for the other, always strives to know everything about Jeno, thinking that he does it to beat him in whatever they would compete over.

Donghyuck knows Jeno had been doing the same to him.

_You were great._

He’s aware that everything has its limits, and that his constant observance towards Jeno should’ve ended a long time ago, long before they were given an undercover mission to save the planet Earth.

But somehow, he finds himself looking out for Jeno more often than he did in the past.

_Everything was easier when we hated each other._

For all the bravery that the superheroes of their kind stand for, the both of them seem to not have enough courage to figure all of these out.

Still, it makes Donghyuck wonder.

If _that_ was the case, then did he really care for Lee Jeno?

And ultimately;

Did Lee Jeno care for him too?

**Author's Note:**

> be my friend!!  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/weishinnies/)  
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/halfmoonjisung/)


End file.
